tackling the office : functionality first.

so this is what our office looks like. or looked like before this weekend. it, and the guest room, are just filled with unpacked boxes. which really meant the only functional rooms in the house were the kitchen, living room, and master bedroom. no dining table in the dining room makes it just a place for sanford to chew on things and act stupid. anyway, we were in desperate need of a desk, so we finally decided to do something about it.

we took another tip to lowe's and bought two of these burro brand sawhorses ($25 each!) and took the door to the office (the back entrance of the house is also in the office, and so we found the door itself really annoying, especially since it wasn't level and kept closing on us while trying to make multiple trips in and out, and had taken it down the first week moved in..) and voila! $50 desk!

we had to do a lot of unpacking obviously, and moved a lot of stuff to the guest room, too, but it's actually a semi-functional office now! you can't see it too well behind the wood board, but we even have james's old couch in there too! and bookshelves on the left side. places to put things. and somewhere to do things!

and oh yea, the previously mentioned back entrance:

it lets in lots of afternoon sun and that back room actually gets really hot. so we put up some thermal blocking curtains we'd previously bought for james's old apartment and put them up. much better! if only they extended all the way to the ground...

gifted : a fancy coffee grinder.

until recently, we'd been using a cheap blade grinder for our coffee beans. but, i really disliked that the grind was so uneven (some would be super fine powder, some would be almost full beans) that i decided we should really upgrade to a conical burr grinder. but, still, in order to save money, i was going to buy a manual hand-cranked one. when i texted one of our barista friends what brand they recommended, the first said that we should spend the extra money to get an electric one. then graciously offered to simply give us his old one!

i don't like taking things for free, so i said no at first, but he was insistent and i eventually gave it, which is how we ended up with the beauty above! and i totally love it - it's even easier to use than our old one. and the grounds are soooo consistent now. hurray! we're very lucky to have such good and generous people in our lives.

purchased: the dining room rug.

we bought this balta odyssey rug at lowe's. now we just need a dining table to go on it! don't worry, that is ordered and coming soon!